Now that it is truly officially fall, I wanted to share some of my favorite fall wedding details, which will also help me get in the mindset for designing for the season’s weddings!
We used seasonal fruit and flowers for the decor on this cake, mini pears (purchased through a local produce distributor) and seeded eucalyptus were the perfect accents for the spiced carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
I love the deep rich colors and multitude of textures that you can get in fall foliage. Lots of grasses, blooming shrubs, and heartier plants are perfect for filling in on flower arrangements. Of course, many roses are available year round so they add the needed softness for wedding arrangements. I also like to play with the different types of containers to give that seasonal look- we used stained wooden planters as our centerpiece containers on the tables.
Shrimp and grits have become a staple at Southern weddings, but in the fall quail shows up on many menus throughout Georgia, and North and South Carolina.
For this wedding, the mother of the bride is famous for her banana walnut bread, so as favors she made mini loaves for all of the guests. Along with her famous apple butter. Packaged in peach baskets, these were the picture perfect fall favors.
For this seated dinner wedding in late October, the pale pinks and peaches were warmed up for the fall season with moss greens, and golden hues. I also anchored the tables by using a heavy suede material for the linens. They were so soft and luxurious to sit against!
What I look forward to the most for fall weddings are the food options. I love love love soup, so passing individual versions for cocktail hour is a great option, or here we served a trio of soup “shots” plated beautifully as an appetizer course.
I think this detail always makes for fantastic photos, and if it’s a simple dinner party that you are hosting, this is a great way to give your guests a special touch. Hollow out a small pumpkin and place the soup vessel in for serving.
Red wine will definitely be a favored drink at the bar in the fall. We used the couple’s personal wine collection here for guests to be able to sample new varietals throughout the evening. Or, you can talk with your caterer about pairing different versions of reds throughout the dinner.
Something else to think about is instead of passing a “speciality drink” you could set up a speciality bar or station. Decanting the drinks and setting them out with identifying tags is perfect for a self serve station..Or having a bartender serve a few chosen cocktails is a great way to keep it simple.
photos by Velvet Raptor, Gayle Brooker, Liz Banfield, and Elizabeth Messina
We have decided no more Monday blues here… Especially since it’s still 90 degrees in Charleston! But that just means we get create fall weddings that are a melding of the seasons. Like this one, which we want to share just a few details from, noting the fall elements. Some light and airiness mixed with the masculine heft of traditional fall feels. Mixing colors that work across the entire year, but anchoring them accordingly. This airy bouquet complimented our brides fully laced long sleeved gown.
Instead of pairing the sunny yellow with a bright grassy green as we would in spring, a deeper mossy green goes great in all of the wedding printing by Lettered Olive. Before they became “extinct” one of our most popular wedding details were our Polaroid stations. Guests took a polaroid and taped it to a card for their sign in box, or book… I miss these.
For a fall wedding in warmer climates, cauliflower soup is served chilled. The color and feel is right, but refreshing sweet tea vodka martinis make a nice cocktail hour treat.
Textures help convey our design mission often. We used millet grains to fill up the escort card station, for a pop of gold, and for a fall feeling.
Jim Smeal created a tiered “wedding cake” with cupcakes- easy for guests to pick up…
As guests made their way into the dinner tent, they grabbed their escort cards which were attached to varying individual vases of florals.
After dinner, the couple cut the cakes, designed by Jim Smeal.
The main house at Runnymede no longer stands (only a few ruins remain), but we found an old photograph which we had screen printed to serve as the background to the band stage.
Because of the remarkable weather, we built an outdoor porch off of the main reception tent for guests to enjoy drinks, cigars, and late night treats if they needed a dance break.
With the couple living outside of Chicago, but the bride a Southern girl, favors were bags of local biscuit mix perfectly packaged with mini wooden spoons. And, because of their affinity for wine we got a bottle that would be a perfect addition to their collection and guests signed it.
Welcome bags for the hotel guests came with the perfect tag for the end of the night- Do Not Disturb…we had too much fun. Congrats to Katie and Paul!
